Side by Side Comparison of: Gardena vs Brinly

This thing works great. But beware, if you are not into the physical exercise aspect of this, look for a different solution. These things are built well, and I like the design. The cutters are strong. A little hosing off the dirt after use. I have a fairly large yard and couldn't do my whole yard in one session, as it was too difficult on this 62 year old body. But over several days, taking it one section at a time, I like the workout and the way it cleans up my grass. I could have rented a thatcher for four hours and gotting the job done quicker, but I perfered this solution.I got the curvy 59 inch handle with it. There's a little figuring out how to use it with the angle of handle as well as the crisscross pattern, but easy enough to master. A youtube video I watched also helped me keep in mind to coax the moss out taking lighter (higher) drags at first and slowly working your way deeper into the thatch.I do like this product and would buy it again.

This rake is fantastic. Depending upon how you position the rate it can pull up old grass deeply or more on the surface. Make no mistake, it's pretty physical using this rake and the handle that I also bought to go with it, but it does and unbelievably good job at De- thatching the lawn. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for the perfect De- thatching rake. The wheels make it a lot easier than De- thatchingusing a regular rake. I was thrilled to see what a great job did on my lawn. By this thing!

The Gardena 3395 Combisystem 12.8-inch Thatching tool is multi-purpose, and a great gardening tool! It's good for de-thatching, grass and creeping Charlie removal, along with other weeds. It can take out whole rows of unwanted grass, along with wanted grass if you aren't careful because the narrow, sturdy tines easily dig into soil about 3 inches without much physical effort. It's narrow, which helps reduce the physical strength needed to pull it out of the soil once it is dug in. It's lightweight, easy to use and easy to store. The Gardena Combisystem products are real lawn-care time-savers.

If you have a lot of thatch but you would prefer not to, then this is the device for you.It's extremely easy to use, though if you're not careful you can pull up good grass with the bad. That said, I don't see how a tool could be good a dethatching and not have that risk factor. In any case, just go a little slow. When it's just grabbing thatch, it's easy to pull. When it grabs real grass with roots, it's hard to pull--just stop pulling and work that spot from a different angle.It pulls up so much thatch that I find it helpful to keep a rake and bucket nearby to clean up.You should be able to clear a 5' by 5' area in about 2 minutes.

After using the old style thatching rake I vowed it would never thatch my lawn by hand again. I saw this one with wheels and thought I would give it a try. It works really slick! Even though it has less blades it does a great job and is MUCH easier to pull. The wheels help control how deep it digs and prevents it from digging in where the grass is uneven. However if you lower the handle (which by the way is extra $, bummer!) you can still dig out dead moss down to the dirt. It does help if you are short! I think the handle angle might be too high for a tall person.

This thatching tool works very well and easy to use. You have to pull it through the grass but the handle is comfortable and the thin sharp blades cut through the grass with a lot less effort than a regular rake. The wheels keep the blades from digging too deeply and then allow it to be pushed forward with little effort. Thatching is important to growing a healthy, thick lawn. The handle is a separate item that needs to be purchased, however, the handle will fit all other Gardena System tools.

Assembly took about an hour and was mostly straightforward. Using it was very easy, pulling behind my riding lawn mower. It did an OK job of pulling up the winter thatch from my yard. It didn't do as good of a job as dedicated push-behind dethatcher/power rake would have, but it worked well enough.

I just tried this out without any weight and it did great. This company has one of the best way of packaging the hardware that you need to put it together. All on a card marked with numbers and locations from start to finish putting it all together. One thing that I do plan on adding to the handle used to engage the tines is an extension that I can reach from the mower without having to stop and get off. I wanted to add something I did to help protect the top surface paint from scratches. For around $10.00 HF has a anti-fatigue mat that can be cut to fit the upper surface where you need to add concrete blocks for weight. I found that there was enough material to not only do the dethatcher I bought, but also the aerator I bought at the same time. (attached below is a picture of both)

I had previously bought a Brinly core aerator and liked its good value. So, in an effort to help my large yard come back to life I bought this Brinly Tow Behind Dethatcher. I'm liking Brinly. It was not hard to put together if you're organized and are somewhat handy with putting things together. Just put everything on your workbench or table, put on some good tunes and in no time it'll be together. I did find the height adjustment instructions a little off but once that was fixed it worked great. I put one large heavy cinder block on it and drove it horizontally the first run, then sucked the thatch into my lawn tractor yard bag. The next day I repeated going diagonally. I knew I had thatch but I had no idea how much. It looked like bales of hay. After getting up the second round of thatch I used the Brinly core aerator (ONLY use a CORE aerator otherwise you're making your soil more compact which is the opposite of what you want!) and some good organic fertilizer my yard looks better than it ever did.PS. You will need a place to store it. It's large and an odd shape with sharp tines.

There are some yard chores that I dread to do. Raking the dead grass out of the lawn every spring is one of them. I have a good size yard and this year as I started raking and my back hurting, I got thinking there must be a better way. I was going to try to fabricate something to pull behind my riding mower, but I decided to check Amazon first. I'm glad I did. I couldn't have made this for less money. This rake does the job better than I can do with a hand rake, and it does it very quickly.I was apprehensive about putting this together after some of the reviews I read, but everything came neatly packaged and labeled with clear directions for assembly. If you just take your time and follow the simple directions, you can put it all together and be using it within an hour.The only down side of this for me is storage. It does take up quite a bit of room in my garage for something I'll only use once a year.The up side is this makes my spring yard care so much easier. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

About as heavy duty as I would expect for the price. Assembly wasn't bad, especially with the parts all labeled and sealed in plastic. It's not a complex device, but it seems well engineered. Transport mode still drags a bit but there are instructions to adjust the ride height, I just chose not to bother. My thatch is really thick and clumpy, so it builds up pretty quick on the tines instead of just shedding off to the sides. I roll over to the compost pile, lift up the dethatcher and quickly remove the built up debris. It's solid but pretty light. Perfect for me! the stuff that's left I just mulch with my mower. I don't use any weights, as it works fine for me without them. I tow it behind a JD135 lawn tractor and you can't even tell it's back there. Definitely worth the money and does what it's supposed to do.

I love to assemble things, so it was no big deal to put together. My home was purchased through an auction, and the lawn had been neglected for a couple years when the house was vacant. A little over two acres of land with a slope on one side in the backyard. It did a phenomonal job releasing all the dead growth! I ran it around the yard a few times empty, and once with a cement block for weight. It loaded uppretty fast, but if I lift it up with one hand it is easy to push the collected material off the tines with the other hand and put it in a pile for disposal. Easily adjusts up and down. It does interfere with the dual grass catcher on my tractor, but is easy enough to disconnect and attach that it is no real problem, Made my backyard look great and feel good for bare feet! No problems with it at all and I really like it.

Great product.

like it

i like it, definitely works up a sweat, but it works great and is adjusted by the height of the handle.

The wheels adds a mechanical advantage: you just push the rake forward and back instead of the additional energy spent on lifting a traditional rake. The wheels also hinge the blades so depending on what angle you have the handle at, the deeper the cuts into the lawn. It does have the ability to "rip-your-lawn-a-new-one" if you're not careful, tho it does take some elbow grease. You'll end up with "friendly fire" with those deeper cuts, as it will lift up regular grass in addition to thatch, moss, etc. Overseed / water to restore.Sometimes, you may miss a patch of thatch if you just go in one direction. I've discovered a circular motion of an area makes for complete coverage.If one person dethatches while another person bags the thatch, it makes for faster work. Swap duties to make the work fair, especially to your significant other (personal experience).Just used this yesterday so I cannot comment on durability. This is definitely better than a regular rake to pull-up moss on grass.Don't forget to buy the accompanying handle: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001E3WFA/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_3.

Still back breaking de-tatching ...but this tool makes the job alot easier. Don't recommend it on large area, but great for a small job. Still a great puchase and I will recommend to anyone.

This little thatcher worked great, but you better be in condition to use it. It takes some muscle and sweat. Don't try to dethatch you lawn in on day.

I have only tried it briefly on my lawn and it seems to work fine. The two best things about it so far are: (1) It's made in the USA, and (2) the assembly directions were easy to follow. In fact, they did something that I have not seen before. All the small parts (nuts, bolts, etc.) were shrink wrapped to cardboard numbered panels that corresponded to the diagrams in the instructions. All the parts were numbered and named on the panels. As opposed to the typical "jumble of pieces in a bag", what a revelation! Well done, Brinly!I like the fact that the handle is installed outside of the tray so as to not interfere with weights that may be placed there. (Pictures of some other dethatchers I looked at online appeared to have the handle protruding through the tray.)The only thing that I would wish for is that there be an extension leading forward from the handle so that the dethather could be raised and lowered from the seat of my riding mower. As it is, I will have to get off the mower to reach the handle.

had to get a replacement part but it is a great product

Assembly was fairly simple, and I really liked the "carded" hardware feature - rather than a bag full of nuts and bolts.Instructions were clear but for my old eyes, the diagrams could have been a little bigger.I had to ignore the measurements for wrench sizes as the nuts were NOT the sizes indicated in the instructions. No big deal -just use the wrench that fits the nut. Adjusting the height was more difficult than I anticipated but it is doable.Could have been additional instructions for doing this adjustment.Dethatcher works great and I give the device itself 5 stars.

Assembly easy enough. Built well and it worked good. Added a few bricks for weight. Stopped often to clean out but maybe not necessary. Doesn't take up much room in garage. Happy bought at this good price instead of renting. Should last for years.

When I received the Dethatcher I figured I had just thrown away my money - again. It didn't assemble real well as one of the long arms was bent a little, but my wife and I finally got it done and I hooked it behind the tractor and set it on 2. Not very impressive, so I set it on 3, and still not making me happy, so I put a cement block on the frame, bungee corded it down, left it on the 3 setting, and ...... now I'm happy because it really dug in. It did a fine job. If debris builds up inside of it, it is a pain to clean it out, and if you use the #2 setting it is less likely to build up, but hey, it works for me!

I purchased this product to help tame a neglected lawn over half an acre in size. The product was easy to assemble with clearly written instructions with good representative pictures. The product worked well enough for what I needed it for. There are two recommendations I would make for the product:- Bigger/Wider tires. The ones that came with it sank into the ground and collected dirt/mud/clay.- Larger clearance when the product is not engaged. Perhaps this is just for my untamed lawn, but it was slightly difficult to clean when it became clogged.

Works as described but a back breaker

It works well for thatching and light duty work. However, if you have a lot of thatching work to do, you may be happier with electric thatchers, like the Sun Joe and GreenWorks, both of which are sold on Amazon. The blades are sharp and this works better than a regular tine thatcher for light and medium thatches. It gets bogged down with heavier mats, though. The reason for my average rating is I am wondering how long this will last. I buy Gardena at a premium price for its quality and its longevity. Other brands seem to last a season or two. Gardena tools, sprinklers, and timers, a decade or two. However, I was shocked the first time I cleaned up the tool. A bit of the paint literally rubbed off! The second time all of the logo and all of the printing and even more paint rubbed off! The third time ... well, you get the idea. So, I don't know how well this is going to hold up. I looked around for an indication of country of manufacture. I couldn't find one on this tool, but the handle (sold separately on Amazon) was made in Slovenia. The handle appears to be of excellent build quality. I hope that Gardena is not moving manufacturing to China, like so many other German companies.

It was okay but it was not what I needed for the task. It was lightweight and the blades were sharp, but I needed more.

The blades do not go deep enough into the ground which limits its usefulness, at least for what I wanted to use it for, which was to loosen the soil before over-seeding grass seed.

This system doesnt go deep and tends to get bogged down with the dead grass in the teeth. It works better to score the surface for overseeding.

I haven't used this yet because it was missing parts as quite a few other reviewers experienced the same problem.

Fit for like half an acre. In reference to the product picture, the wheel is kind of small, the tines may get clogged and build up thatch and drag across the grass. The height adjustment lever does not do much. You will need cinder blocks to weigh this dethatcher down. Also tighten all bolts and nuts after assembly as product use will loosen these parts from vibration. Reasonable price, but may be better off renting a motorized dethatcher.

it`s ok, needs a lot of weight.

Does the job but was a pain to assemble

Product works reasonably well. Dethatches moderately and didn't rip out any grass. Will have to do a few times a year to keep the lawn healthy- not a once and done. Why the 3 stars? Instructions and assembly were a nightmare. There is a video online that helped a lot- but it was still extremely confusing.

It seems to be a pretty good product. One thing that I don't like is the rod that goes from the wheels to the bar that raises the wheels is to tight to the times making it catch everything. All the dead grass gets stuck there.

A small "plate with 2 metal hinges fell off first time use on Garena 3395. Can't figure where it goes or what purpose. Can't find Gardena's or Amazon's customer's number to ask for help.

Very disappointed for the very first time with an Amazon-provided product ... I found that the basic design didn't work at all well because the tines collected mats of thatch that prevented those tines from remaining in contact with the "new" thatch, with the result that it just didn't do the job intended. I look forward to using a powered device that spits out the thatch to the rear as it moves forward. In this case, I feel that I did not get what I (thought I) paid for

I purchase the product and it was deliver, open the package and the wheels were missing along with all the hardware to assembly the unit . Very disappointed . This will set me back a couple of weeks getting my lawn ready,